Supermassive Games Lays Off Staff and Delays Its New Sci-Fi…

Supermassive Games is conducting another round of layoffs, the company said. As part of the same announcement, the British studio has also confirmed the delay of its upcoming horror title, Directive 8020: A Dark Pictures Game.

According to a cached version of Supermassive's official website reviewed by The Best War Games, the Guildford-based studio had over 350 employees as of June 2023, a 40% year-on-year increase. This marked its peak headcount to date, as the Dark Pictures Anthology developer began downsizing shortly afterward. In February 2024, Supermassive announced layoffs, citing business challenges stemming from macro industry trends as the chief reason for the move. No official numbers were given at the time, but the workforce reduction is said to have eliminated around 90 positions.

What Directive 8020's Title Change Could Mean for the Game's Scope

Upcoming horror title Directive 8020 has made a subtle title change that could actually point to a significant shift in direction.

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By LB Beistad

On July 22, the British developer announced its second round of layoffs in the last 18 months. The downsizing will result in Supermassive eliminating up to 36 positions. In a statement posted to its social media channels, the company labeled the layoffs as a "very difficult decision" that "was not taken lightly." Supermassive characterized the move as part of its ongoing efforts to adapt to the "challenging and ever-evolving environment" that is the modern video game industry.

Supermassive Delays Directive 8020

The July 22 announcement also saw Supermassive delay one of its upcoming projects, Directive 8020, stating that the sci-fi horror game has been rescheduled for the first half of 2026. Directive 8020 was previously given an October 2 release date back in February. Since the delay announcement did not include another date, it's possible that Supermassive is targeting a Q2 rather than Q1 launch.

Back in late June, Supermassive attached an October 10 release date to Little Nightmares 3. Its other upcoming horror game is unaffected by the newly confirmed layoffs, the company said. Reading between the lines, the implication is that the Directive 8020 delay was a direct result of the studio downsizing. This would suggest that the 36 redundancies that the studio is anticipating are all concentrated on the Dark Pictures team.

Supermassive Games' Employee Count Over the (Recent) Years

Period	Employees	Notes
July 2020	150+
June 2021	200+
April 2022	200+
June 2023	350+
June 2024	~260	Not officially reported
July 2025	~224	Not officially reported

Supermassive’s downsizing isn’t the first instance of industry layoffs in July 2025. Early in the month, Microsoft began a large-scale workforce reduction targeting up to 9,000 roles across its subsidiaries, including numerous game development studios. The company said the cuts were primarily aimed at reducing layers of middle management. The ongoing wave of industry layoffs—now spanning several years—is driven by multiple factors, including soaring development costs prompting cost-cutting efforts, as well as broader economic pressures linked to rising interest rates (which eliminated "cheap" money) and missed revenue targets.

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